A dispute between a man and his girlfriend over her co-worker’s flirtatious text messages preceded the deadly shooting at a Five Below retail store in the northwest Las Vegas Valley last week, according to a police report.

The Metropolitan Police Department has identified David Vasquez as the suspect in the shooting, according to his declaration of warrant/summons released by Las Vegas Justice Court on Monday. Online court records show an arrest warrant for Vasquez was issued Thursday.

Vasquez faces three felony counts of open murder with a deadly weapon, discharging a gun in a prohibited area and carrying a concealed weapon without a permit, according to online court records.

Police said in their report that they received numerous calls claiming a customer shot an employee of a Five Below retail store at 2152 North Rainbow Boulevard, near West Lake Mead Boulevard, just after 4:35 p.m. on Wednesday.

Officers at the scene identified the store employee as Brandan Lucas and said he had multiple gunshot wounds, according to the report. Lucas was later pronounced dead, the report said.

The Clark County coroner’s office said Monday that Lucas, 31, died from multiple gunshot wounds and ruled his death a homicide.

Vasquez’s girlfriend of two years, who worked at the Five Below, said she received flirtatious text messages from Lucas the day before the shooting that insinuated he was attracted to her, the report said. Those messages made her uncomfortable and upset Vasquez, who she said “had anger issues and was extremely protective of her,” according to the report.

Vasquez was still upset with his girlfriend when she contacted him the next morning, the report said. She texted one of the store’s managers that she did not want to go to work on Wednesday because of Lucas’ romantic advances, according to the report.

The manager told detectives she was “made aware of similar problems by other employees” regarding Lucas and recalled him flirting with another employee as recently as a few weeks before the shooting, according to the report.

Around 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Vasquez’s girlfriend said, she received a notification from the Life360 phone app indicating Vasquez had left his residence, the report said. She saw his location was inside the Five Below and texted Vasquez “Baby Pls don’t do nothing stupid” about 10 minutes before the shooting, according to the report.

Police said store surveillance footage showed Vasquez enter the Five Below while holding his phone up to his ear and walk past Lucas, who was stocking shelves.

The video showed Vasquez talking to the store’s manager before he approached and confronted Lucas, the report said. The manager was seen standing in between Vasquez and Lucas in the footage before Lucas circled around her and struck Vasquez in the head and neck area, according to the report.

“Although Brandan struck David first, he did so after David made several gestures that he was going to engage in a physical fight with Brandan such as pulling his pants up, then balling his fists, and feinting as if he was going to strike Brandan,” the report said.

Footage showed Lucas grab Vasquez before they both fell to the ground, the report said. Lucas was seen on top of Vasquez in the video when Vasquez pointed what appeared to be a firearm at Lucas as Lucas ran toward the store’s rear exit, according to the report.

“The firearm David was in possession of was never seen in the video surveillance until it was produced by David, therefore it was not readily discernible by ordinary observation at any time,” the report said. Police added that Vasquez did not have a concealed carry permit.

Vasquez exited from the front of the store, and Lucas collapsed onto the floor before customers began rendering aid to him, police said store surveillance video showed.

A manager at the Five Below told police she was stocking shelves when she heard Vasquez and Lucas arguing about text messages Lucas sent to Vasquez’s girlfriend, according to the report. She said she turned away from the two about a minute after their physical fight began and heard a gunshot from behind her.

“She turned back and saw David holding a small black gun while still sitting on the ground,” the report said. “David was shooting at Brandan, who was on top of him during the first gunshot.”

The report added that the manager heard two more gunshots as Lucas got off Vasquez and began running toward the store’s stockroom. She said she later saw Lucas holding his stomach and a customer provided him with medical aid before police arrived, according to the report.

The manager said she was not aware of any issues between Lucas and Vasquez’s girlfriend, according to the report, but stated that the two had “previously requested to work together because they got along.”

A shopper inside the store told detectives he heard a woman yell that people were fighting a few seconds before he heard a “pop” that he believed was a firecracker, according to the report.

“Then he heard three more pops, and a woman yelled that someone was shooting,” the report said. “Everyone went to the floor.”

The shopper told police he followed others as they ran out of the store, the report said. Outside, he saw a gray sedan speeding through the parking lot and heard another man yell “why are you running away, coward?” according to the report.

Contact Spencer Levering at slevering@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253.